Stronger By Your Side (Great Love Book 2) by A. Hart Page B

Under the picture were details of his life and death. I took a deep breath. My hands shook and I swallowed hard. She had been married, but not to the guy at the club. I squinted a little harder and saw the same guy from the club standing not too far behind her in the picture. I wasn’t sure who he was, but I didn’t like the way he treated her the other night. A sense of relief washed over me. I now knew that she was okay. Well, not really. Her husband died, which was tragic, but it seemed that they had a good life, that she had been safe, but this wasn’t exactly enough evidence to prove anything.
    Megan Maxwell . My heart lurched. She wasn’t Megan Santos anymore. She wasn’t my Megan anymore. She belonged to someone else, and although he had passed away, her heart belonged to him and because I knew Megan too well, I knew that her heart most likely always would. My best friend, who I had fallen head over heels for, wasn’t mine. I swallowed hard again, feeling like I was swallowing sandpaper. I knew she left eight years ago, but she hadn’t felt truly gone, not until now. A little piece of my heart broke and, as if I weren’t in enough pain, I stilled at the realization of what Megan was going through alone. She lost her husband and was now a single mother. Shit. I knew that hit a chord in her soul that hurt. I knew this would be harder for her than most. I hated that I wasn’t there for her when she needed me.
    I shook my head as I read the heroic story of her husband’s death and how he saved his fellow soldier’s life. I took a deep breath. I was happy that she had found him and then sad that she had lost him. A little pain flickered in my gut again. Megan had already had a hard life. She had obviously finally found a family, and then this happened to her. She didn’t deserve it. She deserved to be happy, even if it wasn’t with me. I sighed. The little girl looked like a perfect mixture of the two, and she had her mom’s smile.
    She was here in California. The other night wasn’t a fluke. This paper was from the town over, but since I lived out in the country where the borders blended, I had the neighbor boy pick me up both papers and leave them on my driveway when he could. She was probably only miles away from me, and the thought both excited and terrified me. What did any of this mean? When I found her, what would I do? I couldn’t not take the time to find her, not when I was this close. I can’t believe I just let her leave the bar the other night.
    I had promised myself so many times that I wouldn’t do that, but when the time came I was too in shock to think clearly. I had told myself I learned a lesson: not to let the things I loved slip through my fingers, and yet here I was, standing in my kitchen, thinking about how I messed up again. The thing is that I never thought it would actually happen. It had always been a vision of mine, but one that seemed more like a dream. I had thought I had seen her so many times in the last eight years that I didn’t truly believe it until it was too late and she was being carried away. Nothing felt real until I’d watched her leave again.
    Having her in my arms again, kissing her like I’d wanted to do every night for the last eight years, was the best moment of my life. The best I could do was hope that our paths crossed again soon. I chuckled lightly to myself. I had read a book on the law of attraction just for the fun of it one day; my uncle swore by it. The theory was that if you focused enough time and energy on thoughts, they would come true. Maybe it worked, because God knew I spent every waking moment thinking of Megan. She was too close not to find. I would ask around. Heck, I would go to church next Sunday if I had to. She was here, and it would happen. First, I needed to figure out what I was going to say.
    I looked back down to the paper and stared at the picture once more. I felt a slight sense of guilt thinking it, but maybe there was still